African Cichlid Substarte

[insomniaclush]

What are the differences between Cichlid substarte, plant substartes and gravel etc..?
I'm looking to start a little cichlid tank and came across different cichlid substrates and
wanted to know the differences. I had a large African Cichlid tank when I was young and
used plane aquarium gravel, big mistake. Piles and piles of gravel everywere! I don't know...lol

[76dragon]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

I would stick with the play sand.

[insomniaclush]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

Gotcha
I was thinking the same thing.
The Cichlid substrates do not look that pretty,
odd mix of colors...

[Hanson77]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

You can use just about anything.  The main thing to remember for cichlids is that you want something that will buffer your pH.  Cichlids are known to be landscapers and will basically do what they want with whatever you use.  There are some different types that mimic the actual environment that they came out of in the wild.  Then of course you can put something in the tank that you like because the fish really aren't going to care when it comes down to it.  Depending on the type of Cichlid you are planning to keep should dictate the grain size of the substrate you use.  Like you wouldn't want to use something that is too large, sharp or abrasive for a sand sifter....that would hurt.  Most plant substrates have nutrients that are good for your plants already in them.  They also have properties that are better for growing plants like substrates that don't pack too tightly for instance.  I'm just throwing "for instances" out there because I don't keep plants but I'm just going off of what I have seen in LFS's in my area.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

I prefer Pool Filter sand over playsand........actually I wouldn't bother putting play sand in my tanks, they are too light and get everywhere when it comes to cichlids.

I myself have Eco-Complete cichlid substrate sand which helps a great deal with my water parameters, heavy enough to keep from ending up in my filters and the fish love playing in it. But it's basically aragonite mixed with black sand which you can get a bit cheaper or find it more readily available at your LFS sold for Saltwater tanks.

As for plant substrates....Hanson got it pretty much explained. Plant substrate is usually man made soil basically which will "feed" the plants as well as bringing water parameters down to their liking.

[Hanson77]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

You really need to be careful with the play sand because like EK said, it packs really tightly.  And if you don't keep it loose, it can trap harmful gases that when released can poison your tank.  I had a friend use it once and was a little lax on keeping his tank clean and when he did a major water change it stirred up the sand finally and just about killed everything in the tank.

The Eco-Complete line of substrates are really nice.  I'm using Aragonite in my 10 gallon that will be set up for Shellies.  My only complaint so far is that it takes forever to settle down after start up.  I rinsed the heck out of it and 3 days later after setting the tank up, the water is still pretty milky this morning.  I'm using the Tahitian Moon black sand in my 58 and I really like it.  It's heavy enough that when it gets stirred up, it settles back down pretty quickly.

[imagirlgeek]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

I've used pea gravel, masonry sand, black sand-blasting sand, white sand-blasting sand, play sand, and crushed limestone.  The only one I would say to seriously stay away from is the crushed limestone.  It always seemed to be breaking down in the water so anything that touched it caused the water to get gunked up.

If your biggest concern is that the cichlids will move the substrate around, I'm not sure you'll find anything that will stop that from happening with cichlids.  :)

Both have maintenance to be done.  Gravel has to be vacuumed, and sand has to be stirred.  Otherwise you end up with the gases Hanson77 was talking about.

[wesleydnunder]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

I like the "O" (ought) sized blasting sand for cichlids. It's finally available again. Makes a really good UGF bed, too.

Mark

[Hanson77]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

Where are you getting the O size blasting sand from?  What kind of pricing are you getting it for?  Is it the multicolored stuff or is it one solid color?

[wesleydnunder]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

It's multi-colored. Prosper and Shannon have it at Aqua-Zoo again. Haven't bought any yet so not sure of the price. I have it in a couple other tanks from several years ago, including my Daffodil tank. I bought it from Bill Wimmer back when he and Sharon had University Pets.

Mark

[Hanson77]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

I bought some stuff called Tech Mix from Seabrook Pets when it was open and haven't been able to locate anymore.  About how big are the actual grains...1 mm???

[wesleydnunder]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

About the size of the capital O on my monitior. Mm? Maybe...don't do metric...maybe 1/8" to 3/16" grains.

Mark

[Hanson77]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

I'm with you,  so it's some really agressive blasting sand then.  The stuff that I used to use was closer to 1/16".

[wesleydnunder]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

I'm with you,  so it's some really agressive blasting sand then.  The stuff that I used to use was closer to 1/16".

It was available from one company: TEX BLAST. They had a special larger screen for separating it. They went out of business a few years back, but Proper tells me another company bought the place and is screening out the larger sand again. It's the best overall substrate I've ever found. I've used it in cichlid tanks, planted, UGF and RUGF set ups. Now that it's available again I'll probably get rid of some of the fluorite beds in my planted tanks and replace it with the blasting sand.

Mark

[Hanson77]

Re: African Cichlid Substarte

Is TEX BLAST here pretty close to our area?  I'm sure Barbara at Seabrook Pets wouldn't have gone too far for the stuff that she had.